Architecture graduate Lydia Wosniak switched to coding and is now a developer at the BBC.
Photograph: Charlie Forgham-Bailey

Ada Lovelace is widely regarded as the “original” computer programmer. Nearly a century before Konrad Zuse built the world’s first programmable machine in his parent’s living room in 1938, Lovelace wrote the program for a computer called the Analytical Engine. The estranged daughter of poet Lord Byron, Lovelace referred to her work as “poetical science”; the fusing of logic and creativity.

More than 160 years after her death, keen coders huddle around the sofas and breakout areas of Brighton workspace PLATF9RM. They are here for codebar: a non-profit organisation that runs free programming workshops for underrepresented groups in tech. They’re attempting to diversify a sector that, according to last year’s Diversity Report, hires just 17% women and 17% BAME employees in the UK.

Inside, there’s a gentle purr of activity as the group of 12 mostly female students in their early-to-late 20s are aided by the 12 coaches who have come along on a balmy August evening. It’s a low turnout, according to organiser Cassie Evans, and they normally aim for two coders per coach. Those in attendance attack the free Pizza Express provided with quiet gusto, before settling in for an evening in front of their screens.

“I used to go to tech events and guys would hit on you. You’d be like: ‘Really?’ But also think it was just standard,” she says. “But there was also the feeling that – as a woman – people perceived you as a designer rather than a developer.”

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Her feelings bear out, with an estimated 11% of the developer workforce being female. Like Lovelace many years before, most of codebar’s attendees have dual logical and creative minds: Evans used to be a photographer but was drawn to coding because “you just keep learning”; Freya Nash and Mariam Saeedi, both 25, come from psychology backgrounds but love the apparently infinite creative potential of code; Lydia Wosniak, 22, is an architecture graduate who’s moving to London to start a developmental role with the BBC.

All are now employed in development roles and praise codebar’s crucial role in this, with the focus repeatedly coming back to community. “It’s not competitive here,” says Saeedi. “It’s very chill. You’re able to experiment and make new friends.”

Founded in London in 2013, codebar now has groups all over the world, including Accra, Sydney and Helsinki. The Brighton chapter was the second, and has taught more than 800 students (many of whom go on to become coaches).

Its popularity in Brighton is perhaps unsurprising: the Green-voting city is famous for its liberal attitude and embrace of diversity. It also has a thriving tech and digital scene – with a 2017 turnover of £574m, according to Tech Nation – and is part of the so-called Silicon Beach stretch of southern coastal cities that are utilising huge student populations (Brighton, for instance, is home to approximately 21,000 alone) and lower commercial rates to be a valid alternative to London for tech companies.

Central to this are support organisations such as Wired Sussex, Brighton Digital Catapult and Brighton Digital Festival, the latter of which celebrates the city’s digital and startup culture and welcomed an audience of more than 60,000 in 2016 across its month-long programme of events.

They’re all helping to nurture a local tech ecosystem that is very much looking to challenge the ‘white guy’ hegemony of developers and founders – and for some, codebar can be a vital access point into the wider industry.

“We’re just a happy little community,” says Evans with a smile, as she heads back to her computer. The flame of Lady Lovelace still burns bright.